Other Ministries
Prayer Chain
We are a praying church and are happy to pray for you. Please tell us your prayer need by emailing alicelar@hotmail.com. The prayer chain, comprised of people who are devoted to praying for others' needs, will begin praying for you within hours. Also email if you would like to receive prayer requests through the prayer chain.
Knitting Ministry
"You created every part of me, knitting me in my Mother’s womb. For such handiwork, I praise you. Awesome is this great wonder!"
Psalm 139:13-14
UUMC has a Knitting Ministry which meets at church twice each month, on the first and third Saturdays at 10:00. The gatherings are open to all regardless of age or gender or knitting skill!
The purpose of the ministry is to knit shawls for people who are in need of comfort, or who may be celebrating a special event. The shawls are knit (or crocheted) in a simple pattern. Prayers are said during the knitting, and the shawl is blessed by the circle upon its completion. Blessings are rippled from person to person, and both knitter and recipient are reminded of and embraced by the unconditional love of God! The ministry at UUMC is part of a concept initiated in 1998 by two women who participated in a Women's Leadership Institute at the Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. Learn more about the ministry at www.shawlministry.com
For more information about meeting times and places, please contact Julie Ponting at 301-725-8037 or julieponting@comcast.net
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Visual Arts Guild
The UUMC Visual Arts Guild is open to all visual artists who work in any media and who are at any stage in development as artists. We encourage each other to develop our gifts and be productive, and commiserate with each other when we just can’t seem to get anything done! We hope our work will contribute to the worship experience. We have photographers, painters, artists who work on and with paper, textile artists and some who do it all. The UUMC Trustees funded and set up our exhibit space; since its formation in winter 2009, the Visual Arts Guild has launched two exhibits. In the autumn season we are thinking about shows on the theme of
First Do No Harm, and/or
All God’s Creatures Great and Small. We have announced an art contest for children, youth and university students and judging will be in early September. We are planning a textile show for mid-winter and hope the textile artists will have things ready to exhibit. In 2010 we hope to have a wine and cheese house show for works that are
Not Church Art, for adult audiences. We currently have 14 members and invite you to join us. Leadership is going to rotate; Michelle Marcotte is currently Art Curator, but in 2 years she hopes to have someone step forward and take over. (Contact
Marcotteconsulting@comcast.net)
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...And More
UUMC offers a number of opportunities for us to help our community and our church – many of these are ministries in which we can participate on either a one-time or an ongoing basis. Please help as you are able!
Due to rising food prices and the state of the economy, our local Help-by-Phone food bank is seeing increased demand. The food bank is in dire need of meat products, especially canned stew. They also welcome donations of oatmeal, grits, cold cereal, pancake mix and syrup, baby foods, rice, pudding and jello, dry milk, coffee and tea, cocoa, peanut butter and jelly, vegetables, fruit, tuna, macaroni and cheese, pork and beans, spaghetti and pasta. All foods must be canned or dried and in sealed containers to meet health department requirements. Please leave your donations in the wooden box in the sanctuary gathering area (narthex).
The Asbury Benevolent Fund helps pay the way for Asbury Methodist Village Home and Health Care Center residents who have run out of money. For many years, UUMC members and friends have been helping in this effort by saving canceled postage stamps. You may put both foreign and domestic stamps, either on the envelope or torn from it, in the basket in the old narthex (on the wooden shelf just inside the wooden double doors).
The flower chart is located on the bulletin board in the old narthex (just inside the wooden double doors). Sign up if you’d like to donate the altar flowers for a Sunday. The cost is $40 for two arrangements.
UUMC is looking for volunteers to bring light snacks for our coffee hour following the 11 a.m. worship service. If everyone volunteered for just one Sunday your commitment would only be once per year. We are looking for cookies or donuts or bagels with cream cheese. Coffee and lemonade will be provided. (You do not have to make the coffee.) Please check the sign up sheet located on the bulletin board next to the kitchen outside the gym or contact Karen Nazareth,
uumc.dce@verizon.net or 301-422-1400. Thank you!
Can You Help Feed a Hungry Student?
University Church has historically extended hospitality to university students in so many ways. Beginning on Sunday, September 20, we are trying something new and hosting students for lunch following the 11 a.m. service. We would like to ask for help with Sunday lunches. They can be simple: soup and salad, a deli tray for sandwich makings, a tray of lasagna that can be put in the oven during worship, cookies or ice cream for dessert. As always, these gatherings are more than a chance for hungry students to eat. They are an opportunity for them to know the care of this congregation, to form community with other students on a huge campus, to enjoy a moment that they are not expected to be productive or be graded. And it is a chance for us to show them, through a sandwich or a salad, that God’s love works in all kinds of ways. Can you help us by either preparing food or donating money? If so, please contact: Michelle Marcotte, marcotteconsulting@comcast.net, Kim Capps, kim.capps@gmail.com or Duane Kidwell, cydweli@aol.com.
Helpers to work the sound system occasionally on Sunday morning are needed. See Thom or Jennifer Newlin if you think you’d be interested in learning how to do this job.
